A Final Request Gone Wrong! Why This Inmate Couldn’t Have His Last Cigarette!

In a striking, almost surreal twist of irony, Nicholas Lee Ingram—a man on death row—had his final request for a last cigarette initially denied. The reason? It was deemed bad for his health. This peculiar denial was one of the last experiences of a man who, in 1995, would meet his end in the electric chair after being convicted for the 1983 murder of J.C. Sawyer in Georgia, during which Sawyer’s wife was also severely injured.

Clive Stafford Smith, Ingram’s friend and a human rights lawyer, shared this chilling story with LadBible TV, reflecting on his 12 years of knowing Ingram. When asked what he wanted for his last meal, Ingram turned down food altogether, choosing instead to request just one cigarette before his life would be taken. Smith, however, revealed that the guards refused the request, citing health concerns.

“You know they go through all that nonsense about last meals and Nicky said, ‘I don’t want a last meal because you’re about to kill me,’ and he said, ‘I want a last cigarette,'” Smith recounted to LadBible TV. When Smith pushed for the request, the response was startlingly bureaucratic: the guards refused on grounds that it was unhealthy.

Smith, stunned by the absurdity, took immediate action. “I say, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me, you’re planning to kill this poor guy,'” he recalled. Going straight to the media, Smith exposed the situation, leading to public humiliation for the prison officials. In the end, they allowed Ingram his final cigarette, though it was a hollow concession in light of the events that followed. “They shaved his head and shaved his leg and put 2,400 volts through him,” Smith shared, unable to disguise his revulsion. “It’s just disgusting.”

Smith’s account appeared in a LadBible TV episode centered on the complex ethics of the death penalty, highlighting the stark reality of capital punishment. Ingram’s story encapsulates an irony that raises larger, haunting questions about the state of the death penalty and whether such a system should continue in modern society.

Smith’s intent was clear: by sharing Ingram’s story, he hoped to shed light on the disturbing contradictions and grotesque procedures involved in executions, ultimately prompting viewers to think critically about what it would mean to end the death penalty in the United States.